CLASS OF 2013 | 2016 | ISSUE 1
Having returned to California after graduation, Thomas Cho is living it up as a fifth- and sixth-grade science teacher, all the while discerning whether he wants to stay in education or not. Considering the rent prices in the Bay Area, he seriously is missing the days when rent was “free” at the senior houses, and all this talk of the drought in California makes him nostalgic for the winters in Connecticut (but not really). Anna Swartz is still living in Brooklyn but has started a new position as a staff writer at Mic along with several other Wesleyan alums. In October, she had the pleasure of spending the night with a theater full of Wes alums seeing Hamilton on Broadway. It was great. #Ham4Wes.
Martin Kafina is a lab manager and researcher at Harvard Medical School. His lab operates within the Hematology & Oncology Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and his research team focuses on hemoglobin synthesis in the mitochondria. Martin is working on a project that examines iron transporters and enzymes residing in the mitochondria that support healthy hemoglobin production. Defective activities of these proteins lead to blood disorders characterized by anemia and mitochondriopathy. He has learned important techniques to study molecular biological processes including flow cytometry, DNA electrophoresis, Western Blot, PCR, cloning, and microinjection. Aside from the research, he is responsible for managing grants and ordering lab equipment. He is very impressed with the performances of Wesleyan swimming and diving, at the 2016 NESCAC Championship, led by head coach Peter Solomon.
Melody Oliphant can’t seem to stray too far from Middletown, as she now finds herself living in New Haven, after two years in Brooklyn. Melody is halfway through her first year in a two-year postgraduate fellowship at Yale’s Child Study Center working in a genetics research lab. Michael Robinson and Lia Monti are celebrating their recent engagement, while Buddy ’13 continues to mourn the loss of his childhood home, Beta Theta Pi.
William Tyner is working on an independent research project, where he is creating an oral history of working life in the digital economy. The purpose of his research is to investigate the meaning of work for technologists and non-technologists in the field. Why do you build what you build? What does it feel like every day to do what you do? What do you feel you are or aren’t contributing? How does your career shape your identity? How does race and social class influence your career? What frustrates you? What gives you joy? Throughout the next few months, he will be speaking with technologists of all types to answer these questions. If you’re interested in participating, please e-mail him at williamttyner@gmail.com.
As always, thanks to my classmates for writing in!
Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu